Rhino Stories

Ensuring a future for one of the world's oldest mammals

Black rhino populations are recovering in Namibia thanks to community-led interventions.

Mostly active at night, the critically endangered black rhino is an elusive species. A well-placed camera trap spotted one of these rare rhinos walking through a wildlife corridor in Kenya.

The greater one-horned rhinos in Manas National Park - their population once completely decimated by poaching - are making a comeback thanks to joint conservation efforts under the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 initiative. 

In honor of World Wildlife Day, we celebrate some hopeful conservation stories to remind us actions make a difference and there’s still time to preserve our natural world if we all do our part.

Illegal killings of rhinos in South Africa are on the decline. In 2019, poachers killed 594 rhinos, down from 769 in the year prior, according to South Africa’s Department of the Environment, Forestry, and Fisheries.

2019 has been a year of both wins and losses for rhinos. Though still facing threats like poaching and habitat loss, the global rhino population has increased by 30 percent over the past decade.

Facts about rhinos and what WWF is doing to help protect the species.

Fewer than 80 Sumatran rhinos remain in the wild in Borneo and Sumatra. Sumatran Rhino Rescue aims to find the remaining wild Sumatran rhinos and bring them to sanctuaries where they can breed.

Last month, the Indonesian Government announced that a first Sumatran rhino, a female named Pahu, was successfully rescued from a small isolated forest patch in Kalimantan, with the support of WWF, local partners and Sumatran Rhino Rescue.

In an enormous setback for wildlife conservation, China announced it will allow hospitals to use tiger bone and rhino horn from captive-bred animals for traditional medicine. The decision reverses a decades-old ban that has been instrumental in preventing the extinction of endangered tigers and rhinos.

Four greater one-horned rhinos are adjusting to a new home in India’s Dudhwa National Park after they were successfully translocated from one part of the park to another during a five-day period in April.

On March 19, 2018 the last male northern white rhino died. Sudan, 45 years old, had been under armed guard to protect him from the threat of poachers. His death is heartbreaking. The extinction of the northern white rhino is happening before our eyes.

New 2017 rhino poaching numbers out of South Africa show a small decrease from the previous year, but the death toll remains perilously high.

WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project (BRREP) has been working with passion, commitment, and determination for a brighter future for the critically endangered black rhino for more than a decade. BRREP works to grow black rhino numbers by creating new populations and provides equipment and training to rangers to monitor, manage, and protect rhinos.

The Sumatran rhino is so rare and elusive that even the most senior of the rangers have never seen the animal in the wild. But just because you don’t see something doesn't mean it’s is not there.

Looking back over years of moving black rhinos to create new populations as part of the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project in South Africa, it’s worth noting how capture and release techniques have improved. 

A baby rhino spotted alongside its mother in Manas National Park, located in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, is an encouraging new sign that the rhino population in the protected area is on the upswing.

Human-wildlife conflict is a major issue for many poor people who live near forests in rural areas of Nepal. That’s one of the reasons why WWF and other partners in conservation launched the Hariyo Ban (Green Forest) program to find lasting solutions that protect people’s lives, livestock and crops and prevent the retaliatory killing of wildlife. 

A greater one-horned rhino found a new home in Nepal’s youngest national park after the government, with the support of WWF and partners, successfully moved the adult male from the country’s thriving Chitwan National Park.  

Over five days in February 2016, five rhinos were moved from Chitwan National Park to a new home in Bardia National Park.

One of the best tools we have for fighting the illegal wildlife trade that threatens many of the world’s most endangered species is CITES—the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) is home to almost half of Africa’s elephants, as well as an array of other animals such as African wild dogs, hippos, rhinos, lions, African buffalo, zebras, crocodiles, and cheetahs. Learn more about KAZA and what WWF is doing for it.

Leto, a WWF Global Ambassador, spoke out against wildlife crime as part of a World Wildlife Day event on March 3, co-hosted by WWF President and CEO Carter Roberts. The event brought together local supporters, partners and influencers to raise awareness and support for combatting the poaching crisis.